I love recommending good restaurants in my guidebooks. But they seem to have a quality arc and often don’t belong in a good guidebook forever. Typically they start tentative, become stars, get lazy and greedy, and then often fall out.
Trattoria der Pallaro, one of my favorites in Rome, seems to be heading down. I visit almost every year unannounced and wander through the place talking with diners and staff and reassessing the place. It is funky, memorable, and in my 2009 visit most people there were having a wonderful experience with a quirky hostess in a memorable neighborhood setting. But now I’m getting bad reports and need to reconsider my recommendation.
Almost every place will get occassional bad feedback…but when a pattern emerges, I need to take note, even if the place is a long establshed favorite that is still generally making people happy customers. For an insight into how we deal with this phenomenon, here’s a recent thread of correspondence between our travelers using the guidebook, my managing editor (Risa), and me:
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Hi Rick,
Here are some recent negative reader-feedback emails concerning Trattoria der Pallaro in Rome. We talk up Pallaro quite a lot in the Rome guidebook. Should we contact Paola or reconsider our recommendation?
Risa
Forwarded Message #1:
Dear Rick,
I am a solo woman traveler, elderly, who has always used your travel guides to help along my holidays.
I was in Rome in September and went for dinner to Trattoria der Pallaro run by Paola which you recommend in your Rome guidebook. Well I had a terrible experience there and hence this letter.
The meal was OK but as I do not take coffee I asked for my check before coffee was served. Paola herself came to my table and I gave her €21 as your book stated. She asked for €25…. OK, the rates may have gone up after your book was published. So I gave her a €5 note and then she asked for €20. I told her that I had already given her this amount, but she insisted that I hadn’t…I had seen her slip it into the pocket of her apron and I said so. She then started to raise her voice and spat out a volley of words in Italian, in a loud and uncouth way. She then called a waiter who spoke no more English than she did, saying she did not understand what I was saying. I refused to pay more and she kept a loud tirade so that heads started to turn in our direction…rather embarrassing too as I had no idea what she was saying. Whatever I said fell on her deaf ears and finally I had to pay an extra €20… a meal that now cost €45 and was certainly not worth it. And at the end of all this, she did not give me my bill…an offense in Italian law. If I did not have to leave early the next morning, I would have gone to the Italian Tourist Police and lodged a complaint. Too late now. A very disturbing event. And an eating place best avoided.
Regards, Katie B
Forwarded Message #2:
Dear Rick,
I returned this week from a trip to Italy and relied heavily on your Rome guidebook. I found it helpful, up-to-date and precise in many of the details.
A major disappointment on the last night in this magnificent city propels me to write with the hope for some correction in your description of the Trattoria der Pallaro. I had dinner there with four friends and felt that it was a bad experience. My friends unanimously agree with my assessment.
The first dish of lentils was bland and uninteresting, but we still hoped for better things to arrive. Even an amateur cook could produce this easiest of dishes. Next came hard-to-chew penne (pasta al dente is good, pasta quasi cruda e altra cosa) with what must have been a weak tomato coulis mixed with either a little cream or milk. In an effort to enhance the taste, a tiny quantity of grated pecorino was on the table. Despite that, I could not finish the dish. Another complete miss was the secondo piatto, a kind of non-descript meat ragout — probably made of leftovers. In addition to the food the house wine served, I think, was acidy and reminded me of the very cheap wine I would drink in my student days three decades ago: some rather unremarkable commercial brand. Service was sloppy. To top it all off, there was a small bowl of peaches in a sugary syrup. I do not remember the other offerings in this gastronomic palette, but I am quite sure they were of the same ilk.
The package was offered at somewhat above €26, but we would have been very pleased to pay a bit more if only the quality of the meal would have been slightly higher.
We hope to continue to rely on your guides and that somehow attention will be given to this complaint.
Sincerely,
Gerald R
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Risa,
While just two unhappy customers, this is disconcerting and part of a trend. On my visit this spring, while most of our readers were having a blast there, I heard similar complaints and have had similar concerns with Paola getting more aggressive and taking our recommendation for granted. Send me our guidebook listing and I’ll edit it down. We should email her about this troublesome pattern, too.
Rick
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Rick,
Here is the current listing in Rick Steves’ Rome: Trattoria der Pallaro, a well-worn eatery that has no menu, has a slogan: “Here, you’ll eat what we want to feed you.” Paola Fazi – with a towel wrapped around her head turban-style – and her family serve up a five-course meal of typically Roman food for €25, including wine, coffee, and a tasty mandarin juice finale. As many locals return day after day, each evening features a different menu (Tue-Sun 12:00-15:30 & 19:00-24:00, closed Mon, cash only, indoor/outdoor seating on quiet square, a block south of Corso Vittorio Emanuele, down Largo del Chiavari to Largo del Pallaro 15, tel. 06-6880-1488).
Risa
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Risa,
Let’s go with this edited listing warning readers about the potentially uneven experience. This is what I should have written after this year’s visit, but my judgment was clouded by happier visits in past years and wishful thinking:
Trattoria der Pallaro, an eccentric and well-worn eatery that has no menu, has a slogan: “Here, you’ll eat what we want to feed you.” Paola Fazi – with a towel wrapped around her head turban-style – and her gang dishes up a five-course meal of bland but typically Roman food for €25, including wine and coffee, and capped with a thimble of mandarin juice. While the service is odd and the food is forgettable, the experience can be fun (Tue-Sun 12:00-15:30 & 19:00-24:00, closed Mon, cash only, indoor/outdoor seating on quiet square, a block south of Corso Vittorio Emanuele, down Largo del Chiavari to Largo del Pallaro 15, tel. 06-6880-1488).
Rick
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Rick, We’ll use this for reprints and the next edition. Thanks. Sounds like Pallaro is turning into a quirky experience like the Cimbraccola in Milano (run by Stefanini, with mediocre food, pins in the map, and imaginary mama in the kitchen). This write-up better reflects the experience our readers will have. Risa
Rick…..I have found in the past your restaurant listings the most unreliable part of your books and stopped using about 8 years ago….. In the last few trips (2-3 yrs) things seem to have improved greatly and I use them frequently with success, while practicing vigilance when dining or entering a new place and common sense to ascertain if this is a good place to give my business…..I have noticed in the past that some of your hotel recommendations are still in your books long after they hit their peak and I myself would have removed them (much sooner)….you sometimes seem reluctant to remove past stars even when they are well past “their sell by date”….. ……however the vast majority of your hotel recommendations match their descriptions and I know what to expect…..I am very happy with 95% of them and know in advance their shortcomings (if they have any such as not very friendly or noise in the street or a low quality breakfast ect.) from your listings…..my suggestion is when a place of any sort (restaurant, hotel, tourist sight or service company) becomes subpar remove them from your books sooner so we can avoid them and their problems…..all the best
Dear Rick: Based on those two accounts, and your revised description of the restaurant, why even list it in your guide book? With its ‘odd service and forgettable food’ — for 25 euro per person — who would want to go there? I would never consider it if I read that description. Certainly, in a city the size of Rome, there have to be similarly priced restaurants in the area where Trattoria der Pallaro is located that serve better food for a comparable price. If not, then a picnic meal with some bread, cheese, fresh tomatoes, cold cuts, and a bottle of wine from a local grocery store is a much better option. Based on the current feedback from your two loyal followers, continuing to list this restaurant is, in my opinion, sheer laziness. I suggest that you or your ETBD team spend a few more days in Rome and do some more research to give the people who buy your guidebooks better meal options. In this regard, I have used many of your guidebooks over the past 17 years and find that the restaurant recommendations are the weakest section of each chapter. Food/dining out is one of the truly great aspects (as well as a major expense) of the European travel experience, so inclusion of more information in your guidebooks on restaurants worth going to (i.e., good food and good value) would be welcome. If I want to be robbed, I’ll take my money out of my money belt, put it in my back pocket, go out on the streets of Rome, and get distracted by a gypsy with a baby. I don’t need to blow it on Trattoria di rip off.
Hi, Rick, I would like to thank you for your transparency above and commend you for revising the review to reflect the current situation. You’re spot on about the downward trend of guidebook-recommended restaurants. As a reader, I appreciate knowing that you try to update the info accordingly. Coincidentally, my husband and I also had a memorably bad experience at Trattoria der Pallaro back in May 2008. We were highly disappointed with the service, and the food, while not “bad,” did not warrant the price, we felt. To this day, that dinner stands out as our worst culinary experience in Rome. Having said that, we still highly value your guidebooks and shows because that’s the only bad experience we’ve had from following your advice over the years. Keep up the good work!
Rick – Thanks for being honest about your problems with restaurant evaluations. My wife and I have averaged about one trip to Europe every other year for the past twenty years (several with your company), and I don’t pay a lot of attention to restaurant critiques in any guidebook. There’s too much variation possible in the experience (due to cooks, wait staff, how crowded the place is).
The restaurant listing in your books is one of the least used when I travel, I much prefer to wander around the non-toursit areas and look for something interesting. In my opinion you could skip restaurant recommendations completely.
Rick – Thanks for giving us a glimpse into the guidebook evolution process and affirming what we knew; you care deeply about the quality of your products and the travelers that use them! I think it’s rare to find a restaurant that doesn’t experience this “quality arc”, even from week to week. Read any foodie blog (chowhound, yelp, etc.) and you’ll see widely different experiences for the same place. Historically that’s why people will gravitate to chains, for the safe, consistent experience. While it’s no fun to experience that “bad night out”, add it to the overall experience as a traveler as part of the broad pastiche!
Hi Rick: My wife and I get to Europe yearly. We love your books and have come to rely on them. The “what to see” and “where to sleep” sections are great. We’ve never been disappointed. We don’t use the “where to eat” portions as we’ve been consistently disappointed with the selections. I think relying on locals (notice the plural) and conversations with other tourists for advice on where to eat is a better option. Chuck
Rick, Keep the restaurant recommendations coming. I would guess we use yours about 50% of the time and other sources or our own intuition the other 50%. Our success rate for a good dining experience is much higher using your guide, but it is hard to fight the urge to find your own hidden gem. One exception we had was Pirilli in Prati near the vatican. We were not looking for it in particular after our Vatican Museum tour, but spotted your smiling face on a flyer in the window announcing it as “Rick Steves recommended”. The place was packed with happy looking locals so we figured it was a good bet for a light meal. As I remember the food was not bad, but not memorable either. The thing that made it a less then desirable experience was the waitress. She was very pushy and used a hard sell to get us to buy the “special” appetizer. It was mozzerella and tomato Inslata Caprese and it was overpriced. At that point rightly or wrongly I felt scammed a little. I know it is not fair to judge a restaurant on one pushy waitress, but that was my experience.
Not sure why, frankly, you would even list a restaurant that one of your customers told you stole money from her. No brainer to me :) Zen moment – my captcha is “crabbiness”!!
Rick I like the majority above rarely use the recommendations as they are hard to find physically most of the time. But Maria and I always use your hotel recommendations.
I work and live in Rome, I use this place often and bring my staff there often. We love it and enjoy the food everytime, we enjoy the staff who are only keen to be themselves. Being in a guide book doesnt make any difference as they are well known in Rome through word of mouth. If locals are eating there every night its open thats the real test and I consider myself a local. I dont think they ever tried to be anything but themselves, no arc no trend, just real Romans. The hidden cash thing was maybe a mistake, you would be very suprised what people can think you did or did not do.
Agree with the above – I’ve had mixed bag experiences with your restaurant recommendations. I can usually do better on my own just by casual observation (reviewing the menu, prices, and clientele who are currently dining) or asking locals. I’d say that many of your recommendations might fall into the category of: interesting character/ambience, but food was only OK, so-so, or bad. We are certainly not haute cuisine diners, but we do like tasty, thoughtfully presented, good food. Fortunately, that is not too hard to find in most of Europe. Maybe you should cross-review your recommendations with Tripadvisor?
I’ve been going to Italy for over 20 years. Sadly, in the last 2 or 3 years the food and service quality all over the country has slipped…especially in the heavy tourist areas. It’s a subtle thing, but it’s happening nevertheless. I won’t be canceling any future trips because of this, but I will certainly be more selective in my dining decisions.
Thanks for the insight into your review and revision process…it’s quite interesting. But I’ll agree with a few of the others in saying that your revised review seems very generous in light of the stories you’ve reprinted here. Even going into it expecting an “eccentric” experience, if my encounter was similar to those mentioned above, I’d feel ripped off.
It’s great to see the revising process at work; thanks for publishing here. I too am bit surprised that the listing remains; perhaps a year in “time out” from recommendations, with a re-check next round, would increase the will to take good care of diners? (If the locals support the restaurant well enough, then why list it? If they are hostile to the tourist trade, why list in a travel guide?)
One of the the more intriguing blog entries you’ve had, Rick. I have to agree with the others: it’s quite disappointing that this restaurant would be rewarded with another listing, bankhanded compliment notwithstanding. Or perhaps yhis is some kind of subversive action on your part. Kind of peculiar.
After reading this entry, I tried to remember what the restaurant meal was in our 06 Europe trip which was most personable. It had a be a pub in Dingle, Ireland! It wasn’t that the food was so good, but it was that a local couple invited us to eat with them! That was so great! I even made use of a San Jose postcard, which Rick has recommended we bring with us on our Europe travels, to show them exactly where we live. If Dingle is on your itineray, go to a pub – chat up a local or two!!!
Rick, Thanks for the behind the scenes look inside your operation. It strengthens the bond between you and your customers. Eating is not a big deal in our travels; we look for the Golden Arches, KFC, Pizza Hut, etc, and all is well. The exception is Porter’s Restaurant in London (Covent Garden) which has been perfect for us for two decades.
Please don’t even dare get rid of your restaurant recommendations. It is quite easy as a single or couple traveling to roam about and find a spot, but in our last three European trips our family of 6 needed a bit of a heads up as to what would be handiest for our eclectic tastes. Other guide books with recommendations seem to lean on the expensive, fancy dining but your listings, thankfully, go from food chain cheap and dependable to high end tasty. ONly a couple of times have the recommendations fallen through and it was usually because of service which would be changeable anyway. Thank you for all you and your intrepid staff do to make our journeys smoother and more informed.
I rarely use restaurant recommendations (less than 5% of the time) in Rick’s or any guidebook for a few reasons. 1. Restaurants change quickly,yet we have no way of knowing that. 2. When places (restaurants, hotels,etc.) get listed, they do sometimes get a little lazy while bumping their prices a bit. 3. Like Rick recommends, I search for local places. But when a restaurant gets a favorable listing, it seems overrun with tourists toting that guidebook. I do just fine by walking around and looking in doors and windows and choosing one on my own. Often the guy next door is working harder to make it in the next guidebook!
Rick, I have found your restaurant recommendations to be very accurate, especially as compared to other guidebooks. I learned the hard way to always carry the latest edition after using a 3 year old book….several of the selections had been dropped in the latest, which I discovered only later on. In general, I find that your recommendations which stress the creativity of the chef or other terms implying “cutting edge” cuisine tend to be the least satisfying and the restaurants you describe as serving “traditional” or “local” cuisine as the most pleasant. Wandering around on my own looking in windows produces pleasant surprises from time to time, but also memorable disasters. I would remind those critical of your selections that if one looks at restaurant reviews on tripadvisor one finds that no place satisfies everyone. Your choices are a sound starting point for any trip.
It may be that Rick Steves ETBD simply doesn’t have the vast resources to review restaurants on a frequent enough basis to ensure consistently reliable results. Restaurants operate on thin profit margins and the temptation to pad profits must be very strong. If they don’t think they will see you again and they don’t think you will follow thru on identifying them as poor, they might do what they can to milk you. In Vernazza, Italy a baker located on the hill as you walk out of town significantly short-changed me. When I walked back in and told him his bakery had photographed well for a story in the Wall Street Journal, he sheepishly gave us the correct change.
Rick, this is one of those “tricky” ones. I agree with Roe that you should always have the latest edition of the guidebook when looking for a restaurant. And I agree with others that the recommendations can be less than satisfying. But then, I think back to the very first trip to Europe my son and I made many years ago. We ate at a very “out-of-the-way” restaurant in Edenborough that we would never have found, but for your guidebook. It was absolutely the best meal of our trip, and we would have never been there except for your recommendation. Sadly, it is no longer there, and no longer in your book, hence the need for the latest edition. Keep up the good work – when you’re on, you’re right on.
After years of travel with your guide book, we rarely use the restaurant portion. First of all we have a really hard time finding the places. Maybe it is just us, or the fact that in Europe most restaurants are in little hidden corners. Sometimes we find out they are out of business. So we have learned to just explore down the back streets and find the little family places. Usually cheaper and good to great. Some have also been disapointing.
I remember this wonderful restaurant from a couple of years ago. It became my hangout and it didn’t take long before the menu and the service became very personalized. I was in heaven! When Paola saw my Rick Steves’ book she just had to show me her picture and autograph it. This year (2 weeks in July) was the exact opposite experience, sad to say. The food was unacceptable, as was the service. Paola recognized me, there was no mistaking that. Then it went downhill. Thank goodness it only took a day or two to find my new favorite Roman haunt.
I agree with some of the others who posted. Why continue to have this place in the book? You already admitted to Risa that your judgment was clouded by your previous visits (and surely, you would be treated differently that other customers since you are the one promoting her restaurant). Additionally, if I were to read that edited version in the guide book, I would think, “Well, that just tells me where not to eat, as opposed to where I should eat.” I rely on you and your books to guide me to places and experiences that I wouldn’t know to choose on my own. Why waste book space to say “you can go here, but it may or may not be something you enjoy, and likely you won’t.” Better to use it to say where one can find quality food and experiences that are worth both my time and money. Keeping someone in the book for nostalgia-sake or feeling guilty for taking them out are not good reasons.
Robert, I travel to Rome almost yearly for business and have relied on Rick’s restaurant recommendations. I too, have recently had a similar experience with Paola’s changing personality and uneven dishes and would love to know your new favorite Roman haunt.
Rick, We’ve had very good luck with the restaurants recommended in your books and use the recommendations quite often. Any restaurant will be hit-or-miss sometimes, but the majority have hit the mark. We try really hard to avoid the temptation of known chains and it helps to have a list to base our explorations from. Sometimes we find a place that’s more appealing along the way, but many times we’ve eaten at the suggested restaurant we were hunting for and have been very happy. Birreria Forst in Venice and Menza in Budapest jump out as great meals/experiences we never would have had without the guidebook.
Rick we followed your recomendation while in Rome and went to Trattoria der Pallaro, quite the experience, the meal was wonderful and full of surprises and flavor, the price was right and as you say we will remember Thanks Cathy and Dave Inward
Just wanted to add my experience – and granted it was a group meal with our guide Domenique on this Fall’s Best of Europe trip, so I don’t know how much that factors into our reception at the restaurant or my experience – but our meal there was wonderful. The food was amazing, the experience hilarious, charming, chaotic all at once and even a bit alarming as Paola changed moods in a flash but that just added to the atmosphere – overall it was one of my favorite meal experiences on the 21 day tour for me. The wine was great as well. The restaurant was crowded with some tourists and a lot of native Romans that night. Again, this is just a snapshot, but for me it was a great experience and a great meal.
I am starting to think about the Rick Steves arc. He was smart, funny, dumbed down and light. Now he is a bit over the top.
Having just returned from Rome, and a meal at Paola’s, I have to say that meal was one of the highlights of our trip. The food was good, and definitely more than we cold possibly eat. The wine wasn’t a fancy, expensive wine, it was just an ordinary table wine, and very plentiful. It wasn’t the BEST food we’ve ever eaten, but it WAS a wonderful experience thanks to Paola and her staff. When we walked up she greeted us with a smile, hugs, and kisses. Then asked (in Italian) if we spoke Italian. When we replied no, she went on jabbering in Italian as if we had answered yes. She showed us to our table, and came by several times during the meal smiling and jabbering in Italian, sometimes even asking questions (we could tell because she would wait for a reply). My children loved her — it was like being in the home of an Italian grandma. We all hugged and kissed before leaving, and also took pictures with her. She made us feel like guests in her home for dinner. This night was not just about the food, it was an entire experience, and we loved it. In fact, it is the only meal in our entire 3 weeks that we wrote home to family and friends about.